Martin Luther King Jr.

The Atlanta minister who led peaceful protests for civil rights.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 33

Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta in 1929. His father was a minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Back then, unfair laws called segregation kept Black and white people apart: separate schools, separate water fountains, and the back seats of buses for Black riders.
Martin started college when he was just 15, and became a minister like his father. He believed in changing unfair laws peacefully, with words and marches, never with fists.
In 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks would not give up her bus seat. Dr. King helped lead the bus boycott: for more than a year, people walked instead of riding the buses, until the unfair bus rules ended.
In 1963, he gave his famous I Have a Dream speech in Washington, D.C. He dreamed that his children would be judged by who they are, not by the color of their skin.
In 1964, he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and new laws began to protect everyone's civil rights. Dr. King was killed in 1968. People everywhere were very sad, but his dream lives on. We honor him every January, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Your turn! Sort them: peaceful, or not peaceful?

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies: